During the nineteenth century, enslaved African Americans contributed to the long-standing tradition of quiltmaking, which has evolved across generations. Scholarship centered on this subject has yet to analyze quilts made by enslaved people within the context of plantation culture. However, much can be learned from a study of quilt production on plantations across the divergent, southern United States. This is especially true when considering the range and functions of quilts made by enslaved people. These included both quilts made by enslaved African Americans for themselves and the forced quiltmaking labor for the “big house” on the plantation. Produced by enslaved individuals and families, whether for personal use or within the owners’ home, the techniques and meanings woven into the textiles resulted in an intermingling of African American and European American traditions. Through an investigation of slave quilts beginning in the antebellum period, this project examines three key concepts revealed by quilts fashioned during an overtly prejudicial time: cultural hybridity, cultural hierarchy, and cultural continuity. Quilt production represents the mixing of cultural forms and the examples that survive exemplify the social and cultural hybridity of the plantation. However, quilting was not simply a hobby, but a laborious task for the plantation and in rare cases, offers a physical remnant of enslaved life. These concepts, like the identities of many of the makers themselves, are hidden in the stitches. Looking at the production of quilts through the lens of material culture reveals their function on the plantation, as well as their expression of plantation hierarchy. Thus, a study of quilts created by the enslaved community highlights quilts’ role on the plantation and reveals fundamental characteristics about the lives of enslaved African Americans. In unique ways, quilts and their range parallel the stratified plantation division and highlight the great disparity that existed between the lives of individuals living together on the plantation. By analyzing such quilts’ contexts, I reveal how the enslaved community used their resourceful textile traditions as a representation of their developing culture, as well as fulfilling the textile expectations of many plantation owners. In order to show the progression of African American quiltmaking, from plantation production to cultural consumerism, it is important to recognize the continuation of this cultural tradition into the twentieth century. Not only should African American quilt production in the nineteenth-century United States be considered an important representation of the enslaved community, but it should also be examined as essential to the development of African American textile culture.